# Introductions **URL:** https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introductions/363 **Category:** Other **Created:** [October 16, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introductions/363 "2021-10-16T19:12:43Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 7
### Author: ![ActiveMind](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/user_avatar/discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/activemind/32/5560_2.png) [@ActiveMind](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/u/ActiveMind) #### Post date: [October 3, 2024, 8:00am UTC](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introductions/363/7 "2024-10-03T08:00:35Z")
I’m in my early 20s. I’m studying AI and computer science in university. I find intelligence, consciousness and creativity interesting. I knew that wouldn’t be what I would learn in uni, but I was also interested in automation using AI, like self-driving cars. The topic I most enjoy to think, discuss and read about is philosophy. I am leaning towards becoming a philosopher and earning money through programming/data science. I would also like being a software entrepreneur. That would probably take more time than a regular job, and I think I would prefer a ratio more towards philosophy than business/programming. I would really like to live forever by solving aging. However success would be very dependent on this ultimate goal, and I wouldn’t value the sub-goals along the way nearly as much. It would be a risky bet on whether it was worth spending my life on. I also don’t have as much intrinsic interest in biology as I have in physics. And I am more interested in philosophy and programming than physics. # Brief intellectual history I liked math as a kid, then school beat out all the joy for intellectual matters in me. I rediscovered the joy of contemplating ideas when I read about astronomy in a physics class. I watched Jordan Peterson at the time. I was more interested in the philosophy and psychology than the politics. So I got into existentialist philosophy and Jungian psychology. I listened to a podcast on Nietzsche, read books from Camus, Kafka, Jung and Orwell, and watched yt content like [Academy of Ideas](https://www.youtube.com/@academyofideas). I thought the ideas were interesting to contemplate, but I didn’t find them extremely impressive. Being new to philosophy I assumed these “great” thinkers were still to complicated for me to fully appreciate yet. Now I think they are irrational and/or mystical (Orwell is still good). I also had a way more positive and optimistic sense of life than them. After some time I wanted to know about politics too. I was going to learn about capitalism and socialism. I wanted to be fair, unbiased and rational, and therefore give both a chance. What happened was I came across pro-capitalist arguments first and went down that path, never getting to any socialist literature (besides yt videos). I discovered Ayn Rand through Yaron Brook. Objectivism _was_ impressive. It seemed rational, and clear, and therefore confident. Yaron Brook talked positively about BoI. I was excited to find other rational thinkers. So I search for “David Deutsch Ayn Rand” and found Elliots video about DD attacking her. I then watched [Easy Answers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDWy7mV8BqE) and [Planning Reforms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zu37jMw0vp8). I was impressed. I thought they were very reasonable, non-tribalist, and nuanced. I have been reading stuff from Elliot and lurking at the forum since then, which is ~2.5 years ago. I intended to join the forum many times before. I took the advice from [Learning from Great Books](https://www.elliottemple.com/essays/reading) and have since read ~125 books (~65 as audiobooks/TTS) in 2 years. I started reading the year before in which I read ~17 books. I read, and enjoyed, Sanderson and Heinlein. I like the fiction Rand recommended: _Ninety-three_, _Quo Vadis_, _Ivanhoe_, _The Scarlett Letter_, and Mickey Spillane. I like reading economics, history, biographies and other non-fiction. I would like to read more science books in the future. Relevant philosophy to CF I have read: - Almost all Ayn Rand books - What I am I aware of that I have not read the are: the newsletters, the letters and _The Early Ayn Rand_ - Content by Elliot: - [Fallible Ideas for Life](https://fallibleideas.com/life) - Some [Fallible Ideas](https://fallibleideas.com/) articles - All podcasts on apple podcasts - InternetRules tutoring videos - Most of his videos on yt - A decent amount of curi and CF articles - Recommended Popper chapters from _Conjectures and Refutations_ - DDs books - _The Goal_ and _Standing on the Shoulders of Giants_ by Goldratt - _The Dream of Reason_, _The Dream of Enlightenment_, _The Story of Philosophy_, Peikoffs history of philosophy lectures. (all of these were audio) - _The Meaning of Mind_ by Szasz and like 7 other books of his through TTS I have liked everything Elliot has recommended. I have only had minor disagreements, but I also haven’t read things with enough of a critical attitude. # Opinion of Elliot and CF I think Elliot is the best living philosopher and as far as I can tell his philosophical contribution with CF is significant. I admire Elliot’s rationality, honesty, integrity and spirit of energetic progress. When I found Paths Forward I thought that this is what someone who is really committed to reason and truth-finding would do. It shows an attitude of doing everything reasonably possible to be rational and find truth by seeking debate. I imagine it would be similar to Socrates’ dedication to truth. I think his [Archives Non-Endorsement Policy](https://curi.us/2509-archives-non-endorsement-policy) and writing for ~20 years without compromising or pandering for popularity, shows his honesty, integrity and independence. I admire his productivity in volume of writing and debating, and in the production of new useful philosophy ideas. # Goal with CF I want to live a rational and moral life. I want to learn the best existing philosophy of reason, which is CF, to the point where I can improve upon on it. --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.criticalfallibilism.com/t/introductions/363)._